"Please calm down. What is wrong?"
Ryan was flustered, but he asked, carefully choosing his words.
"Why do you want to regress?"
"Vania..."
"What about Vania?"
"..."
Nike paused for a moment at Ryan's nonchalant reaction.
"Because I have to save her..."
"Save Vania? What are you talking about? She didn't die."
"What?"
He was stunned.
"Honey~!!!"
A cheerful voice from Vania came from behind Ryan.
Nike's head turned immediately.
In an instant, Vania ran as if flying and threw herself into Nike's arms.
Ignoring his wet clothes, she buried her face deep and rubbed against him, pouring out her joy at seeing him.
Ryan sharply observed Nike's reaction.
Eyes wide as if about to burst. Unable to even hug Vania back, the two stood frozen, gaping open and trembling.
Then, from Nike's eyes, which had been staring blankly down at the crown of Vania's head held in her arms.
Drop, drop.
Tears fell.
'...Fuck it.'
Ryan was convinced by that reaction.
David, probably through that damn bastard's mouth, the news of Vania's death reached Nike's ears.
“Prince?”
Vania, who had raised her head in astonishment, found Nike, who had remained stiff, strange.
“Why, why are you like that?
Soon, Nike hugged Vania tightly with a hurried gesture.
Whether trying to feel that she's alive and well. Deeply.
***
The memory Nike ruminated on was not entirely beautiful, even though he had expected it.
"Until my nineteenth birthday!"
"What happened on your nineteenth birthday?"
It was something he had already suspected while having a cute little argument with Vania about remembering up to that point.
The fact that we spent the night together back then.
"Ahem, hmph, you know. There's something I want for my birthday!"
In her memory, Vania had suggested going on a trip for her birthday. Twenty-three-year-old Nike Valencier knew the meaning. So, knowing it, he nodded.
It was the first time she had traveled to a distant place without any surveillance.
The family usually kept track of Vania's schedule and movements, and they had never spent more than a day together.
Vania seemed to have struggled quite a bit to put this travel plan into action.
She evaded the sisters with tracking abilities, took care to ensure the bodyguards wouldn't be disciplined, and tracked the brothers' every single movement...
If Duke Wasenberg's beloved daughter were to venture out on a journey without a single escort, it would not be a problem
A sudden worry crossed Nike's mind, but he tried hard to pretend not to notice. Back then, he was blinded by Vania, by things like love and base desires.
"The sea is so, so beautiful. Isn't it?"
“You are prettier.”
As expected, it was so good that he wouldn't have any regrets even if he died right now.
A morning when they lie side by side, tightly embracing each other with not a single layer separating them, and gazing together at the sun rising above the horizon.
At that time, Nike prayed earnestly.
To hold you like this for the rest of my life, to wake up in the same bed every morning and whisper that I love you.
At that moment, he felt like he could do anything for his lover.
So much so that everything that gets in each other's way feels meaningless.
Really... stupid.
"What's wrong with your face?"
At the next meeting, Vania came out with burst lips and red, swollen cheeks, as if to show off.
"I... I had a fight with Marina."
It was a lie that was so easy to understand.
The bruises were too severe to have been the work of a sister, and the fight seemed to have occurred right after returning from a trip.
Furthermore, Vania possessed a supernatural ability that could easily heal wounds like this. Nevertheless, the fact that she showed up bearing the marks of assault so conspicuously probably...
It must have been because of the threat that they would only let her go meet her lover if she did that.
Didn't you know it would turn out like this?
Another self within asked. Nike could not answer. No. He did not want to answer, for he felt that the moment he did, he would find himself unbearably disgusting.
Actually, didn't you pretend not to know, even though you expected that Vania might have a hard time?
The power to maintain the family, the 'chosen blood' capable of giving birth to a superpowered individual, which has not yet manifested in any of the Duke's children
Naturally, who his children associated with was an extremely sensitive issue for the Duke.
The fact that his most cherished daughter was meeting a member of the royal family was bound to be a headache for him.
The Duke must have been furious.
"Did... did your brother do that?"
"Yes? No, it's not like that."
The Duke who never once laid a hand on his daughter's education.
In that case, it was obvious which of the children he would have ordered to punish Vania.
Nike knew her first brother well, whom he had seen countless times on the battlefield and whose hands were cruel.
Even deliberately showing her wounds to her lover and forcing her to come was definitely his way.
This was a warning.
To Nike.
Only you can sever ties and stop Vania, so do as I say.
"...It hurts."
"Not at all? Don't worry. I hit him back, too."
Her family had to control Vania while also catering to her whims. They knew that if they forcibly severed her relationship with her lover, they would no longer be able to stop her.
The reason she was able to boldly meet with the royal family in the first place was that she was the family's top-tier asset.
Therefore...
Her family will probably be hoping for it.
They hope their bond is severed in the most satisfying way possible, without Vania rebelling or coming to hate her family.
The only way was for Nike to bid farewell.
Can I do it?
His inner self asked again. He could not answer this time either.
A relationship he wouldn't have started if he could have let go easily; someone he held onto greedily even though he knew it would turn out this way; the woman he desperately wanted for the first time in his life.
He knew that if he kept holding onto her, she would shatter. Yet, if he let go, he might go mad. Even though he knew he would get hurt if he didn't let go, he didn't want to live a life worse than death without her. Whenever Nike faced such a disgustingly selfish inner self, he was tormented to the point of madness. Infinitely weak, lacking even the strength to protect his lover, yet unable to let go of his greed.
"I'm sorry."
In the end, he simply hugged Vania with an apology.
Even though he clearly foresaw the thorny path that lay ahead of his lover, he did not say goodbye. Surprisingly, he rummaged through all those memories, but not once had he ever said he would let jer go.
"I'm sorry..."
I'm sorry for loving you.
I'm sorry for being such a selfish guy who can't bring myself to let you go just because I love you.
***
"There is only one reason for her death. Because she was Your Highness's consort, the castle of Valencia..."
In the end, I thought my love killed you.
"In the end, she turned pitch black! Without a trace or form! It became a pile of ashes!"
Perfectly.
So that you wouldn't even be able to come back to life without my meager ability.
But...
Even if I turn back time dozens of times and bring you back to life hundreds of times, the fact that you suffered because of me does not change.
Still, the four days of hell I endured while waiting for Ryan, just to bring him back to life and hold him in my arms.
As he stood there blankly, Vania appeared before his eyes like a hallucination and shed tears of blood.
I screamed that it hurt, that it was because of you, and begged you to let me go now.
Then Nike said.
Consistently selfish.
Forcibly holding Vania in his arms as he struggled, saying he couldn't do it and refused, like a madman...
“Don’t cry.”
For some reason, Vania did not shed tears of blood today. With a pitiful expression, she stroked the corners of Nike's eyes.
"And let me go..."
However, the request was always the same.
“No.”
Nike had no choice but to give the same answer as always. He shook his head while crying.
"I don't like that, please, I, I was wrong...
I hugged her tighter and spat out a meaningless apology.
"Sorry..."
Slap!
Just then, Nike came to his senses at the sound of a hand patting his shoulder.
He turned his head and saw it was Ryan.
"My baby is going to die. Die! Are you going to suffocate her? Her face has turned blue!"
"What?"
He looked down. Vania was struggling in his arms, which he was holding with all his might, as if squeezing her tightly.
"Ah."
Startled, Nike released her arm.
No, I just relaxed.
I couldn't let Vania slip away, so this time I held her tightly without straining.
"Wow, is this kid a Venus flytrap?!"
Ryan's shocked voice wasn't even heard.
'She's alive.'
Alive.
She is alive and well and smiling at me.
That was the only thing that mattered to him.
Comments
Post a Comment